Chapter — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Chapter III. The Effects of the Eucharist
180. The nourishing sacrament of the Eucharist, just as it is the most worthy, so also is the most efficacious. Its efficacy proceeds especially from a threefold source: 1. from union with Christ; 2. from its spiritual nourishment; 3. from its special signification of the Passion of Christ.
- In the reception of the Eucharist there is had a perfect union with Christ, God and man.
For the Lord says: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."74 From this union a great increase of sanctifying grace is spontaneously produced. For just as Christ, coming visibly into this world, conferred grace upon it according to the saying, "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,"75 so, coming sacramentally into man, He effects the life of grace.76 But since the Eucharist is a sacrament of the living, it already presupposes sanctifying grace in the soul and increases it; accidentally, however, when one has neither consciousness nor affection of a mortal sin committed, or if one approaches Holy Communion both in good faith and with attrition, the Eucharist causes first grace.77
74 John 6:57.
75 John 1:17.
76 Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 79, a. 1.
77 Ibid., a. 3.
181. 2. The Eucharist is the most perfect food of the soul; indeed, it is a sacred banquet at which all Christians are invited to recline.
Therefore it produces all the effects of good food and of a most delightful banquet, as the Council of Florence teaches: "Every effect which material food and drink produce with respect to bodily life, by sustaining, increasing, repairing, and delighting, this sacrament produces with respect to spiritual life."78 Hence the Eucharist:
a) Sustains spiritual life, insofar as it guards against mortal and venial sins. For just as good bodily food guards against disease, so the Eucharistic food strengthens the soul against all temptations to sin, and especially against dangers to chastity; for it is that wine which "brings forth virgins."79 The tinder of sin is not indeed diminished directly, but indirectly through charity greatly increased by the Eucharist.80 It is established from the experience of all confessors that no more efficacious remedy against temptations is given than the frequent and devout reception of the Eucharist.
b) Together with grace, it increases the fervor of all the virtues. Through this sacrament, insofar as concerns its own power, not only is the habit of grace and virtue increased, but it is also excited into act according to the saying, "The charity of Christ urges us."81 Therefore, not rarely, through the Eucharist devoutly received the virtues are exercised in a truly heroic degree.
78 Decree for the Armenians (Denz., n. 698).
79 Cf. Zechariah 9:17.
80 Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 79, a. 6 ad 3.
182. c) It remits venial faults and temporal punishments. Hence the Council of Trent82 teaches that the Eucharist is "an antidote by which we may be freed from daily faults and preserved from mortal sins." The reason why the Eucharist destroys venial sins is the increased fervor of charity, and this not only ex opere operantis, but also ex opere operato, that is, by the power of the sacrament itself. For venial sin and the fervor of charity destroy one another. The more venial sins are committed, the more the fervor of charity is diminished. But the more the fervor of charity is increased, the more venial sins are taken away. Concerning the remission of temporal punishment, the Angelic Doctor teaches:83 The Eucharist "has an effect in two ways: in one way directly from the power of the sacrament; in another way, as it were, from a certain concomitance.... From the power of the sacrament, indeed, it directly has that effect for which it was instituted. But it was not instituted for making satisfaction, but for nourishing spiritually through union with Christ and with His members, just as nourishment is united to the one nourished. But because this unity is made through charity, from the fervor of which one obtains remission not only of fault but also of punishment, it follows from this that, through a certain concomitance with the principal effect, a man obtains remission of punishment, not indeed of the whole, but according to the measure of his devotion and fervor." From these things it is understood why Holy Communion is the best disposition for gaining a plenary indulgence, and why the Church is accustomed to prescribe Holy Communion as a condition required for gaining an indulgence.
d) It delights, because it increases charity, unites with Christ, and repairs both fault and punishments, as has been explained. Hence it is deservedly said in the Office of Corpus Christi: "You have given them bread from heaven, having in itself all delight"; and many saints after Communion were rapt into ecstasy.
82 Session 13, c. 2 (Denz., n. 875).
83 Loc. cit., a. 5.
183. 3. The Eucharist specially signifies the Passion of Christ.
For the sacrifice of the Mass, in which the sacrament is consecrated, is an unbloody renewal of the sacrifice of the Cross. Because of this close conjunction with the Passion of Christ, the Eucharist is a precious pledge of future glory and a strong shield against diabolical temptations. The first effect is produced because Christ through His Passion opened for us the approach to eternal life. The Eucharist is prefigured by that miraculous food which Elijah "ate and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb."84 But since the power of the devil was broken through the Passion of Christ, the Eucharist makes us strong also in the struggle with the demon. Hence St. John Chrysostom says: "As lions breathing fire, so we depart from that table, having been made terrible to the devil."85
84 3 Kings 19:8.
85 Homily 46 (45), n. 3. Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 79, a. 6.
184. Scholion. On the human cooperation necessary for obtaining the Eucharistic effects. The admirable effects of the Eucharist depend in part upon the cooperation of the recipient. For just as food does not produce all its effects unless it is well digested by the nutritive power, so also the Eucharistic food does not exert its whole efficacy if the tepidity, negligence, and distractions of man stand in the way. Hence it happens that men, even after innumerable Holy Communions received, still remain very imperfect.
St. Thomas notes,86 however, that past venial sins, whose affection is no longer retained by a man, in no way impede the effect of the Eucharist, since it takes them away, as has been said. Therefore, only venial sins actually pleasing impede the fervor of charity and the refreshment of spiritual sweetness arising from Holy Communion.
86 Loc. cit., a. 8.
185. You ask: 1. At what moment does the sacrament of the Eucharist produce its effect ex opere operato? The response which seems to us alone true says: At that moment at which true eating or reception is had. For this sacrament was instituted after the manner of food and drink. But eating or reception is had not at that moment at which the Eucharistic species are placed in the mouth, but when they pass into the stomach. Therefore, if the species are dissolved in the mouth or removed from the mouth, the effect of the Eucharist is not produced. Likewise, the Eucharistic species do not operate ex opere operato for as long as they remain undissolved, as Cajetan with certain others wished, but at the moment at which they arrive in the stomach. Otherwise, he who, because of a weaker digestive power, preserves the undissolved species longer in the stomach, or who received a great quantity of consecrated hosts or wine, would be in a better condition than one who quickly digests small quantities of the species. These things indeed seem absurd. For as long as the Eucharistic species are not dissolved, the Body of Christ is present, and therefore it is highly expedient that a man, after receiving the Eucharist, elicit fervent acts of charity.
2. Whether the Eucharist produces its effects if a host is transferred artificially through a tube into the stomach in a case in which a man cannot receive it in the natural manner? The affirmative opinion seems probable, because even then the Eucharist is received after the manner of food, although not after the manner of eating. The Holy Office, however, on January 27, 1886, is said to have prohibited such a manner of administering it, even though it concerns Viaticum, because the sacrament can then be exposed in some measure to irreverence.87
The Angelic Doctor treats broadly, profoundly, and clearly of the effects of the Eucharist in S. theol. 3, throughout question 79, from which we have briefly drawn the things said above.
87 Cf. Noldin, De sacr., n. 100, and Linzer Quartalschrift (1915), 128 sqq.